Tag Archives: software

Gadgets Galore – The Christmas Rush

Posted on by

One of the problems created by the Internet is that everywhere is as close as your mouse. If you’re trying to find something for the significant other in your life and they’re in to techy stuff, it’s not as easy as wandering around your local mall. Google is so voluminous with its information that there’s just too much to explore. What is needed is something where some human selection has been applied.

Where better than the Gadgets Galore Store, you might think? In a way that galore word may be the danger sign: it seems to cover too many types of artifacts. PC World might home in better on the right kinds of gadgets but again it overwhelms with the quantity of information. A more focused one for technical news that seems more useful is the Gadget Advisor for PC Hardware, Software and Tech related items. It provides advice on what it covers and I found useful info on best extensions for Firefox and best Windows software. A Blaze Media Pro review also caught my eye: that software seems to be almost the Swiss Army pen-knife approach to handling images.

If gadgets are on your Christmas list, then hopefully this will give you some places to start your research.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

The Voice Recognition Software Paradox

Posted on by
 
Voice Software Really Is Coming

There are some major moves in the voice recognition software marketplace. IBM Research has announced that it is unleashing powerful speech software that will make speech technologies part of everyday life.

As part of an effort to bring IBM Research’s vaunted intellectual capital directly into the marketplace, the opening of IBM Research’s speech assets will make it easier for IBM customers and partners to gain a competitive advantage in new markets by integrating the industry’s most advanced speech recognition software.

Then Dragon NaturallySpeaking has now launched version 10 with appreciable improvements in speed and accuracy. As one reviewer put it,

Never mind the PC’s keyboard, here’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10, the new voice recognition program from Nuance Communications Inc., is fast enough and accurate enough to render my keyboard obsolete. According to Nuance, NaturallySpeaking 10 is about 20 percent more accurate than its predecessor. Better still, it’s about 50 percent faster, so there’s very little delay between the sound of my voice and the appearance of text.

All the other biggies on the Internet scene, in particular Google and Microsoft, are all beavering away as well. The reason for this is that the Internet will be moving in large part to cell phones as the mobile web becomes the online space of choice.

If there is a paradox it is that this is not a hot item of discussion among consumers. You can check that out by using the new Google tool, Insights. A search for voice recognition software shows the following trend:

Voice Recognition Software Trend

Voice Recognition Software Trend

In interpreting such a picture, there is a major caution to be made. Google normalizes these results against all the searches that are done. Here is how Google explains the normalization process.

Key Points Of Normalization:

*New York doesn’t appear on the list for the term ‘haircut.’ Does this mean that people in New York don’t search for this term at all?

Remember, Google Insights for Search shows the likelihood of users in a particular area to search for a term on Google on a relative basis. So, just because New York isn’t on the top regions list for haircut doesn’t necessarily mean that people there don’t search for that term at all. Consider the following scenarios. It could be that people in New York:

  • don’t use Google to find a barber or hair salon
  • use a different term for haircut-related searches
  • search for so many other topics unrelated to haircuts, that searches for haircut comprise a small portion of the search volume from New York as compared to other regions

Since Googling for answers is now the preferred research method, even keywords that are growing modestly in popularity will show a downward trend. Unless Google reveals the total number of keyword searches that are done, one cannot determine whether consumers are more or less interested in voice recognition software. What is quite certain is that, although they may not presently show massive interest versus YouTube or Facebook, within 12 months that picture will be changing.

Related: Insights Into Google Search

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Voice Recognition Improves Hospital ER Care

Posted on by
Voice to text software cuts reporting delays.

Tiffani Mozingo, administrator for the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) at Sky Lakes Medical Center, in Klamath Falls, Ore. had some dramatic news to report at a recent Medicexchange conference on patient safety. The PACS expedited diagnosis and treatment by getting radiological information into physician’s hands more quickly and with greater accuracy.

Use of this technology enabled Sky Lakes to reduce average TAT (turnaroundtime) for normal reports to the emergency room from almost 78 hours in November 2006, to 5.4 minutes in November 2007. Abnormal reports take less than 15 minutes. The reporting system also yielded a substantial economic benefit. Once Sky Lakes went “live” with the reporting suite, the hospital was able to reassign all 10 of its radiology transcriptionists.

This represents an astonishing improvement, and shows the potential for the immediacy and efficiency of speech technology. It suggests an exponential growth in a wide variety of uses for voice recognition software.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Microsoft Still Product-Driven

Posted on by

According to the New York Times, Bill Gates is leaving his position at the head of Microsoft in a time of great change. Perhaps there is less change than one might imagine. Just over a year ago we thought Microsoft Goes Customer-Centric. In June 2006, we wrote:

Now the buck no longer stops with Bill Gates. Ray Ozzie is presumably the final authority on most strategic questions, even though they must be confirmed by the largest shareholder. Ozzie is much more attuned to the grassroots nature of Internet market places. Perhaps the latest moves on Microsoft brands might have gone slightly differently if done a year from now.

The interview today might raise questions about that. It featured Microsoft’s founder, Bill Gates, and his designated successors: Craig Mundie, head of research and strategy, and Ray Ozzie, top software architect. There is an emphasis on products similar to what has been seen in the past:

Microsoft is calling its strategy “software plus services,” an approach that is intended to protect the company’s existing installed base. .. Microsoft is now moving quickly to offer new Internet services for personal computer users. Centralized data storage will make it possible for PC users to gain access to most or all of their information from all of the different types of computers they use, whether they are desktops, laptops or smart phones, and wherever they are located.

Bill Gates said the center of gravity in the computer industry has dramatically shifted toward software. “Why do you like your iPod, your iPhone, your Xbox 360, your Google Search?” he said. “The real magic sauce is not the parts that we buy for the Xbox, or the parts that Apple buys for iPhones, it’s the software that goes into it.”
…
Microsoft’s chairman said it was unlikely that Google would be able to make inroads into the Microsoft’s share of market for mobile phone software. The ability to create compelling software will determine the winners. “The phone is becoming way more software intensive,” he said. “And to be able to say that there’s some challenge (from Google) for us in the phone market when it’s becoming software intensive, I don’t see that.”

That sounds as product-driven as ever, but perhaps if Bill Gates is taking a back seat, his successors will apply a more customer-centric viewpoint.

Technorati Tags: , ,

Search the Internet for other related articles.
Loading